I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou

It is the smile and warmth in delivery, not just the hot coffee, that lingers

Smiling and sparkling eyes.. and oh, by the way, here is your coffee prepared just the way you like it – hot! Can you recall the last time you had a coffee like that. It just tastes better, and lingers longer in memory when served the rightway.

When it has been established that feelings and emotions are the primary drivers in decision making, then why do most businesses focus only on operational excellence?

Answer: Metrics driven operational process excellence is easier to measure and manage. Simply put, it is easier to control the temperature of the coffee than the smile and warmth with which it is presented to a patient. Hospitals do not know where and how to start measuring the fuzzy, wooly domain of feelings and emotions.

The good thing is, we do.

While coffee helps me paint the picture, it is the same in almost all interactions with a patient – even the all important doctor consult – the level of emotional connect with doctor has a greater impact on patient than even the clinical expertise.

Every interaction with the hospital leaves an impression on the patient. Can these interactions be designed to leave the right impressions? Absolutely Yes. Can these impressions, emotions, feelings be measured? Again, absolutely yes.

Here is a sample emotional signature from one of the hospitals that we work with.